Victoria Principal

Victoria Principal (born January 3, 1950) is an American actress, best known for her role as Pamela Barnes Ewing on the CBS nighttime drama Dallas from 1978 to 1987. Victoria Principal was born in Fukuoka, Japan, the eldest daughter of a United States Air Force sergeant. Her paternal grandparents were immigrants from Italy; her mother was born in Georgia and was of English descent. Since her father was a career sergeant in the Air Force, they moved often and she grew up in London, Puerto Rico, Florida, Massachusetts, and Georgia, among other places. She attended 17 different schools, including studying at the Royal Academy of Ballet while her family was stationed in England. Principal acted in her first commercial when five, and enjoyed a successful career in commercials. After graduating from high school, she enrolled at Miami-Dade Community College, intending to study medicine. Months before completing her first year of studies, she was seriously injured in a car crash while driving home from the library. The other driver was convicted of drunk driving and served jail time. Principal spent months in recovery and was faced with the prospect of having to take her first year of studies over again. After a period of serious introspection, she drastically changed her life by moving to New York to pursue her acting career, and shortly thereafter to Europe. While living in London, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and then in 1971, she moved to Los Angeles.